1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ball, roller, needle, and other bearing types as used with various types of axles and shafts in various types of vehicles and other machinery. More specifically, the present invention comprises a bearing insert which threads into a threaded hub, bearing carrier, or the like. The bearings in turn are pressed or otherwise secured within the bearing insert. The present invention also includes a bearing insert installation and removal tool and a bearing press tool, configured for use with the present bearing insert.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of ball, roller, needle, and other bearings are used extensively in all motor vehicles and many other types of machinery, to support various axles, shafts, and other rotating components therein. Such bearings generally comprise an inner and an outer race with the bearings themselves installed therebetween, with the outer race generally being pressed into position within a hub, bearing carrier, or other component of the machine, to secure the bearing assembly in place.
Obviously, such bearings require service or replacement from time to time, due to the need for periodic lubrication and the normal wear which occurs in such rotating or spinning components. Even permanently sealed bearings must be replaced from time to time due to wear. Virtually all maintenance manuals for various machines describe the process and steps involved in the removal of bearings in various areas of the machine, for replacement or relubrication. The vast majority of cases require the bearing carrier, hub, or other component containing the bearings to be removed from the machine, so the component with the bearings pressed therein may be placed in a press in order that the old bearings may be pressed out of the bearing carrier.
An example of this is found in the suspension knuckle provided as a component of the steering and drive system of most front wheel drive motor vehicles. The removal of the bearings from the bearing housing within the knuckle requires considerable time and effort, as the knuckle component ties together a number of different suspension and steering components of the vehicle, generally including the steering tie rod, suspension arms, and brake caliper at that corner of the vehicle. Additional disassembly may be required, depending upon other components attached to the knuckle, the specific location of the bearings within the knuckle, etc. The labor involved in the removal of the knuckle can take hours, just so the knuckle assembly with its pressed in bearings may be removed from the vehicle for placement upon a press in order to press the old bearings from the knuckle assembly and reinstall new or relubricated bearings therein.
The present invention provides a solution to the above problem by means of a modification to the bearing carrier, knuckle, or other bearing housing, and a threaded bearing insert configured for installation in the modified bearing carrier. The bearing carrier is modified by threading at least a portion of the internal diameter of the bearing housing or passage therein, with the bearing carrier of the present invention being externally threaded in order to secure within the threaded bearing housing. The bearings required for the machine are pressed into the bearing insert of the present invention, before the insert is installed within the modified bearing carrier.
Thus, when bearing service or replacement is required, the mechanic need only remove components sufficient to access the bearing insert and unscrew the bearing insert for placement on a press for bearing removal therefrom. The bearing carrier (e.g., knuckle, hub, or other component) may remain in place on the vehicle or machine, thus saving considerable time, effort, and labor expense in the servicing of the bearings.
The present invention also includes a bearing insert removal and installation tool, configured to engage the threaded insert within its hub or carrier for removal therefrom or installation therein as required. A bearing press is also provided, with the press having a threaded bearing insert passage therethrough into which the bearing insert is temporarily installed for placement in a press in order to remove and install bearings in the insert.
A discussion of the related art of which the present inventor is aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, is provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,458 issued on Jul. 12, 1977 to William R. Ford et al., titled “Bearing Extracting Tool,” describes a device having a series of flattened circular wedges at the distal ends of a series of threaded tension rods. The device is used by first destroying the bearing retainer normally used to provide equidistant spacing between the individual bearings in a ball, roller, or similar type of bearing assembly, in order to provide sufficient separation between individual bearings to wedge the wedges in place between the inner and outer races of the bearing. The tension rods are then retracted to pull the bearing from its seat within its housing. As can be seen by this description of the function of the Ford et al. tool, a bearing removed by this method cannot be repacked and reused. Ford et al. clearly do not anticipate any other means of installing a bearing within a housing or the like, as their tool functions only to pull such a bearing straight from its housing, rather than by unscrewing a fitting or insert from the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,617 issued on Oct. 16, 1984 to Thomas L. Kobylarz, titled “Bearing Installation Tool,” describes a generally conventional tool in which a threaded tension rod engages a corresponding concentric passage in the axle within the bearing, with the tension rod being used to force a seating tool against the bearing(s) to seat them within the housing. Again, no separately removable threaded insert is disclosed by Kobylarz.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,838 issued on Apr. 2, 1985 to Karl M. Hacker, titled “Tool For Removing And Replacing Wheelbearings,” describes a tool operating on a radial expansion principle. The tool incorporates a collet-like assembly in which a concentric threaded rod is used to wedge the outer split sleeve of the collet outwardly so that its outwardly extending flange grips the inner edge of the bearing. The assembly may then be extracted by pulling it from the bearing housing. Hacker does not disclose or anticipate a threaded bearing insert threaded into a cooperatingly threaded bearing housing, and his tool would be inoperable in removing and installing such a threaded insert.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,241 issued on Apr. 9, 1985 to John A. Freeland et al., titled “Combination Bearing Removal And Installation Tool,” describes a tool configured particularly for use with McPherson and Chapman type suspension struts. The device operates by extending through the bearing receiving bore of the component and presses the bearing assembly from or into the bore, depending on tool orientation and operation. Freeland et al. state that their tool may be used to remove and replace bearings without removal of the strut assembly, with its bearing passage, from the vehicle. However, use of the Freeland et al. tool still requires that any axle, spindle, or other component passing through the bearings within the housing, be removed before the threaded rod of the tool may be inserted through the center of the bearings within the housing. This additional step, while not as complex and time consuming as the removal of the entire strut assembly, nevertheless requires significantly more time and effort to accomplish than merely unscrewing a threaded bearing insert, as provided by the present invention. Freeland et al. do not disclose such a threaded bearing insert, nor is their tool operable with such a threaded insert configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,169 issued on Nov. 24, 1992 to Rex A. Boyce, titled “Bearing Servicing Tool,” describes a specialized tool for use particularly with bearings in the elevator hinge system of certain aircraft. The bearing housing with which the Boyce tool is used includes a pair of opposed inwardly disposed ears or lugs, with the Boyce tool having a complementary configuration to clear the ears or lugs. As in the case of all of the other devices discussed to this point, the Boyce tool operates by pressing the bearings from or into the housing, rather than threading or unthreading a threaded bearing insert from the housing, as in the present invention. Boyce does not anticipate or describe any form of threaded insert containing one or more bearings, which assembly may be threaded into or from the bearing housing, as provided by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,435 issued on Oct. 26, 1993 to William E. Schultz, titled “Apparatus And Method For Removing Bearings,” describes a tool having an axially split mandrel having an end which includes a lip for gripping the conventional bearing cone of an automatic transmission. Schultz notes that the bearing races must be removed from the cone before his tool may be used, rather than removing the entire bearing assembly from the mechanism before removing the bearings from the insert, as in the present invention. As in the cases of all of the other devices discussed to this point, the Schultz bearing cone extractor operates by applying a purely axial force to the bearing cone, and as such it is not operable with the present threaded bearing insert which requires rotation for removal and installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,411 issued on Sep. 5, 2000 to Andreas Rutter, titled “Method Of Mounting A Wheel Hub Bearing Assembly To The Knuckle Of A Vehicle Suspension Standard,” describes the placement of the bearing retaining snap ring over the inwardly facing tapered flange of a hub assembly, which in turn installs within the bearing housing bore of the knuckle with the bearings captured between the cylindrical hub body and the knuckle bore. The hub, with snap ring placed thereon, is forced toward the knuckle until the snap ring is compressed by the hub taper to be pushed past the edge of the knuckle bearing bore and into its snap ring groove, to retain the bearings within the assembly. As in all of the other tools and assemblies discussed further above, the Rutter method applies purely axial force to the assembly for bearing installation. No threaded bearing insert is disclosed, nor is the Rutter bearing installation method operable with the present threaded bearing insert.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,328 issued on Sep. 10, 2002 to Fred Heflin, titled “Bearing Cup Installation Tool,” describes a compression type tool for forcing opposed bearing assemblies into the opposite ends of a hub. The tool comprises an elongate threaded rod, placed through the bearing passage of the hub. Bearings are placed over each end of the rod, and caps installed on the rod outboard of the bearings. A nut is installed over the cap on each end of the rod, and one or both nuts are tightened to compress the caps, and the bearings captured therebetween, into the hub in the center of the assembly. The Heflin bearing installation tool places purely axial force on the bearings to press them into the hub, as in all of the other devices known to the present inventor and discussed further above. Also, Heflin indicates that the hub must be removed from the remainder of the vehicle structure for his tool to be used thereon, unlike the present invention where the vehicle structure remains intact, excepting the threaded bearing insert.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,601 issued on Apr. 1, 2003 to Floyd E. Cloward, titled “Bearing Press,” describes a tool for the removal or installation of a sleeve bearing on a continuous shaft. Cloward provides press components formed of half collars or sleeves, which are fitted around the shaft. Compression plates formed of split blocks are also assembled around the shaft, with conventional threaded rods being used to draw up one of the plates against the split sleeve, which in turn presses the sleeve bearing from its housing. As in every one of the devices of the prior art described further above, Cloward applies a purely axial force on the bearing for removal or installation, and his device is not operable with the present threaded bearing insert which requires rotary motion for installation or removal.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a bearing insert and service tools solving the aforementioned problems are desired.